Better legal document summaries start with better questions
A useful summary is not just shorter text. It answers the business and legal questions the reviewer actually needs to decide what to do next.
Legal teams do not need summaries because they dislike reading. They need summaries because decisions often depend on a few facts buried inside long documents. The best summaries make those facts easy to verify and act on.
That means a good AI summary should be guided by the matter. A litigation memo, an MSA, a lease, and a board pack should not all be summarised the same way.
Ask for the decision, not the document
Instead of asking for a generic summary, ask what the reviewer needs to decide. Should we sign? What changed from the last version? What obligations start this month? What deadlines create risk?
Question-led summaries reduce noise because they align the output with the work the lawyer is actually doing.
Require citations
Every important statement should point back to the source. Citations let lawyers verify the answer quickly and prevent summaries from becoming a second untrusted document that must be reviewed from scratch.
Extract next actions
The most useful summaries end with action: clauses to review, dates to calendar, questions for the client, and risks to escalate. Summary should shorten the path to action, not just the path to understanding.